Now that you know Jesus, and getting to know His Truth and that His Truth will set you free, we need to talk about how you should act as a follower of Jesus Christ. You can live a life that honors Jesus by living righteously (rightly in God's sight). This means you can choose to do the right action, for the right reason, and for the right outcome. In other words, you will do what it takes to obey Christ's commands and to fulfill His Will as an expression of your love for Him.
This will require that you have a new way of dealing with life. Your mindset and ways of thinking before you met Jesus are no longer the standards by which you should choose to live and make decisions. You are now a new creation of God in Christ and must replace the old ways with God's new ways by being obedient to God's Word.
Here is an example: Before we knew Jesus as Savior and Lord we would respond to those who hurt us by trying to hurt them back. We felt we were justified in responding that way because we told ourselves that the ones who hurt us deserved our retaliation. Well, that is the old way of thinking. In the New Testament book of Matthew, chapter 5, Jesus taught, 'If someone strikes you on the right check, turn to him the other also.' He then said, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.'
The starting point of learning how to live a life that honors Christ then is to reject the old ways and replace them with God's ways of thinking and living. In chapter 12 of the New Testament book called Hebrews, it instructs us to '... throw off the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith ...' Consider, what do you have in your life right now that does not honor Christ? Maybe you have an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Maybe you cannot control your tongue and you gossip. Maybe you have unforgiveness in your heart toward someone. Maybe you are sexually active outside of marriage. Whatever the issue, you are now free to throw off the old and now put on God's ways.
You are now free to learn the ways of Christ and to follow His teachings. He will set boundaries around you to protect you and He will give you standards of behavior which will cause you to mature in Christ.
There are three important ways that you can learn how to live a life that honors Christ.
One way is to read your Bible daily so you can by taught by God.
The second way is to ask the Lord to teach you as you interact with him during your times of prayer.
The third way is to allow mature believers to show you how to apply God's Word.
I encourage you that once you learn how God wants you to think, act, and react that you are obedient to act rightly. I also encourage you to ask the Lord to bring mature believers into your life who will hold you accountable so that you stay on the right path with God.
So, how do a person live a life that honors Jesus? You do so by taking on new behavior and living rightly in God's sight. As you travel life's journey, I pray you will experience the blessings and benefits of this new behavior.
